Recruits as starters:
DC = Ideally Bonucci but can live with Pepe or Varane
LB = Ideally Mendy but can live with Rodriguez or Gaya
CM = Ideally Vidal but can live with Sygurdsson
FW = Ideally Lukaku but can live with Vardy

Sorry I have to be very brief, but hope to give your post more attention later.

In brief. I don’t know about quotas and contract expiry dates and all that, but part of the equation has to be adding to the kitty, so of players who play as first teamers on a regular basis, have some (if rapidly diminishing) value, I’d get shot of Giroud, Ramsey and Theo because on top of those reasons, they are awful to watch. Really, really awful. Horrible.

Pugglet ☺ they are almost human, but thank god not utter bastards. My puggie insists on sleeping in bed now. And believe me if a pug sets his mind on something – he gets it. His side if the bed is filthy so I bought him pyjamas which are easier to wash than the dog. Unfortunately medium size is too small for the fattie 🙂 £20 went in the bin

I got moved there when the North Bank was renovated. Had a brilliant seat just to the left of the goal, 20 seats from the away fans(just enough distance to feel safe) by a gangway (allowing easy access to the toilets) and about 15 rows up (just above the crossbar.

The seat couldn’t have been better, and after a season or two there was a real sense of camaraderie as all were previous NB S/T holders – all chose to stay when we were offered seats in the NB.

Using the Clock End was a lot simpler for me as the entrances were on Avennel Road, where we lived. Plus I knew every way to get in without paying and back in the 40’s and 50’s the stewards helped out the local kids by turning a blind eye to us – they knew us by name.

Cheers for the post RC. Sorry I was not around to respond and also to be fair I haven’t much good to say at the moment apart from looking forward to an FA cup final. Those of you that have now moved onto pastures new with comments on other subjects can ignore me going all footbally now after the lord mayors show.

I think it is important to keep a home grown core in the side RC. I think that is important for the dynamics and loyalty towards the club within the squad, (with the likes of Sanchez, Ozil and Bellerin all creating regular uncertainty that we don’t need just because they are just not ArsenalDNA’y enough), and also to meet the home grown quotas.

There are serious question marks over the following (who I think are all home grown) :

(GK’s) Szcesny, Martinez

(Def’s) Jenkinson, Chambers, Gibbs

(MF’s) Coquelin, Wilshere, Ramsey

(Fwd’s) Walcott, Akpom

I think all those players have been mentioned by various bloggers as ones to potentially let go and I may have even missed some. Even AOC was deemed crap and surplus to requirements some months back by many.

I feel we will need to keep a good portion of these but the smart thing to do is to look at which players can remain as, and will be happy to be, able back-ups without being 1st choice players. Gibbs for instance can remain as a squad back up (over Monreal) to a new recruit that is better than both our main options currently.

We will need to see what happens but I think we could be hitting some hard times with extreme difficulties keeping the likes of Sanchez and also in recruiting players to a club that looks to be on a downward trajectory and can’t keep its top players, with seemingly no real indication from the board or manager that we have been messing things up and will seriously put things right.

The problem is the ins and outs of the TW only scratches the surface of what we need to do to be where we should be again. There seem to be so many other factors such as organisation, training, leadership and determination, development of players, team fluidity and balance, to be put right as well.

I have often said that in the modern game the projected image of the club is very important and I feel we have underestimated the impact this may have in the way we have done things in the last few seasons. Money is a factor as well but the top (in demand) players who have many suitors will go to clubs that look on an upward trajectory and look hungry and ambitious. We don’t look to be this, so I think we could struggle but would obviously love to be wrong.

I don’t think we will dine from the top table of players, but worryingly maybe not even maybe the 2nd tier down where you find the likes of Lacazette. Even players in his situation, that isn’t yet proven at the highest level, may look at other clubs before us. This wouldn’t have been the case even up to 2-3 years ago.

I do feel we may have to box very clever and pull out all our persuasive stops in this TW if we are to persuade even the 2nd and 3rd tier players to join us, if we want to enter next season with a strong title challenging unit.

Anyone watching Man U?
They’re playing CLT according to the legend at the top left of the screen.
Let’s hope they can’t find it during the first leg, so that they have all to play for in next week’s semi. (with us in between)

Whatever RC’s inhaling, smoking, drinking, or ingesting is clearly potent stuff. Relieves one of all senses, makes one feel like anything is possible, one’s insight is limitless and creates a sense of total well-being and satisfaction regardless of reality. After this season we need something like that. Lots of it!

The viola played addict of a relative. How old?
Yes, moi still loving it. Lesson this afternoon.
It’s a weird kind of love for me in that I’m am mentally assembled for big picture shit as opposed to a musical instrument which is very much detailed shit.

RC, I haven’t heard that about Sanchez wanting Turan. Isn’t that just likely to be media rubbish? I am not aware of any close connection between Turan and Sanchez either internationally or as former team-mates.

I have kind of prepared myself that what we are seeing at Arsenal now is the end result of a failed 4 year development project. I am not sure that now all we need is a bit of tweaking and a couple of additions anymore, and that we probably need to press the reset button and start over again, which is unlikely to yield immediate results.

I have anticipated that in addition to the gist of this post about who leaves and their replacements, we will also need to replace both Ozil and Sanchez, so the redevelopment is likely a huge one with more ins and outs than we have ever seen under Arsene..

To be honest I hope I am wrong and that this squad can be rescued with a couple of additions and some smaller changes, and probably the starting point for that would be securing Sanchez, so I am interested in your comment RC that Sanchez wants Turan. It would kind of imply he is still happy to stay with us.

If he stays then I would blow that money on Aubemayang but he will have lots of big clubs after him happy to pay that price and he will likely have a few choices.

Gb – Last year, the rumour was that Sanchez wanted AFC to pursue Turan – the link being their time in La Liga together.

I think that for this squad, we have a few options:
1. Build our squad around Ozil; or
2. Build our squad around Sanchez

This will dictate our squad changes because
– if we build around Ozil, then we need Aubemayang and we need very strong FBs and DMs and we would need to play in a 4-3-1-2 formation to get the most out of Ozil;

– if we build around Sanchez, we need a strong target man like Lukaku and we get rid of Ozil and revert to a 4-4-1-1 with Sanchez playing in the hole behind the striker. This would require a fantastic DM-CM pairing and two Wingers with great engine – wingers like Willian for example.

Also – if AFC wants to adopt the much loved flavour of the year 3-5-2, it demands another type of players…

Now in any case, I still think that we need 4-5 starters…but their profile will depend on the option chose

I love Ozil but I think we should sell him and send a strong signal to Sanchez – you are our talisman and we trust you to land us titles so the team is built for you.

I agree with both you RC and Micky. There are probably a couple of options for us. The problem with Ozil is who will take him at the moment with the wages and transfer price required? Even if we took a £10m hit on our outlay we may struggle to sell him on. He can walk away for free next year so I have a gut feeling we will have to try and tie him down and get a formation o work with him.

It perturbs me that Ollie is 1st choice striker at Arsenal 5 years after arriving. Nothing personal against him (and I do like some of his attributes) but it explains a lot about what Arsenal have become for me with regard to not evolving and developing.

I still think the 3-5-2 system can accommodate both Ozil and Sanchez centrally in more free influential roles and without the need for a hold up striker. Sanchez can play number 10 second striker and Ozil can have a more free role with 2 CM behind him.

I would suggest Aubemayang and Sanchez could easily operate to devastating effect in this system as a front 2. We need a better left wing back type player and maybe this Serbian is the deal. Maybe a Pepe as you say RC to get more grit and experience in the defence and probably more of an athletic strong CDM to play the holding role.

I think Sanchez is best when playing off a striker because it gives him freedom to roam around and behind the striker.

Micky –
Monreal’s performance was a one-off. It will not happen again. At best, he is a back in a 3-men defense.

Holding is one to nurture but he definitely is showing great promise.

We managed to be top of league with Sanchez as a striker and Ozil in the team because Cazorla was there. Cazorla cannot be relied upon as he spends too much time in the injury list…

GB – Let us sell Ozil. He can be sold for 30-40 Mln EUR easily.
As for OG, I think he gets more sticks than he deserves. He is not a top 10 ST in the world for sure but I think he is a valuable member of the squad. If we do not get a Lukaku type of players, I think we would be wise to keep him as a squad player (not a starter)

Nah Chas, I spend most of my time hoping I am right on most things. With Arsenal it is just my way of easing my personal guilt that my deep down feeling is that Arsene and the hierarchy have cocked things right up over the last few seasons, and that I don’t think they will sort it out……hope I’m wrong though 🙂

Perturbed and prepared Micky….I thought it was part of a purist’s mantra.

If we can get that for Ozil then no problems RC. Not sure it will be as easy as you say.

I actually don’t blame OG. He is what he is and is not what he is not. It is up to the manager to work that out and decide in what way to use him so I actually blame Wenger.

I think Giroud’s place in a starting line up forces us to play a certain way which is not very Arsene (the original one) like, but for some reason AW can’t help himself in starting with him up top. This has been happening for 5 years and I could confidently predict that no other top European side would play a striker like that as 1st choice unless it is forced upon them for a temporary period. He is an impact player from the bench at this level but for us he has been our main 1st choice striker for 5 years.

I think it doesn’t complement the types of midfielders he plays (particularly Ozil) but also never allows us to develop a quick cutting edge attack because we are not playing it enough to develop it effectively. Spurs are are far superior and cutting edge side in attack than us now despite not really being better on paper player for player.

The reason I would let him go is because it would remove the temptation from Wenger to continue with this.

Actually i’m in toronto. But i’m not a canadian, not citizenshipwise anyhow.
As for trump i don’t worry about him at all. Why would i? The system, despite looking broken, is stronger than any individual. It’s not like the prime minister, who can do whatever they want if they have a majority and can hold it together. The republicans are fractured, the democrats are also fractured and have become lunatics. Checks and balances are working, kinda. It’s a sad yet fascinating time to be living in.

Here’s a funny one. The pro basketball team in toronto is in the playoffs v cleveland. Some of the fans gather outside to watch the game in a park on a large screen.
Some clown keeps showing up and managing to position himself so he’s always in a shot of the crowd cheering is holding up a wenger out sing, waving it madly. It’s stupid and it hits my funny bone.

GB/RC I do not want us to build the team around Ozil or Sanchez. After all our time with him we know they are not temperamentally suited to being a leader and go MIA too often. If we build around anyone (and I do not think we should) then Xhaka seems the better alternative.

You may be right on this BR. I am far from certain about what I feel is the best way forward and I have questioned myself whether we shouldn’t just accept that Ozil and Sanchez are part of a failed period. Despite them both being marvelous players there are issues with both of them and sometimes individual brilliance is not as important as the right blend.

We need quality players but maybe we are better off with ones that are just off the radar of the most in demand players. I am not sure that the most highly sought after ones are where we should go right now, and should focus on quality players but ones who are young and hungry, but also experienced ones that have slipped off the “top player” radar for whatever reason, and are better than their current status indicates, and maybe feel they have something to prove. Also I would probably prefer players that will not create disharmony and unease.

I had a left field thought the other day which I will share at you just so you can all say I am bonkers and lost the plot. It concerned Ozil and Sanchez and my thoughts that we must sell them to a big side abroad rather than here so as to not lose face and damage the image of the club further.

I also feel that we are probably better off with a cash + quality player that we need deal (one that would happily come to us) than straight cash. Then I got thinking about the EPL teams and whether we could actually do business with one of them on this basis, and which one might have the players that fit the criteria that we could ask for. I arrived at Man Utd.

Say we offered Maureen Sanchez. A big coup for them, especially as he is coveted by their cross city rivals. Now what if we said we don’t want money but we do want Martial, Mata and Shaw for him. No team really loses face in this deal and maybe both benefit from getting what they need.

All 3 are not Maureen favourites but in Shaw and Martial you have quality and promise that could become world class. I even wonder whether martial could do a Thierry at some stage and move from left wing forward to striker. Definitely worth a punt in my book.

I have always liked Mata and think he has flown under the radar firstly because he is from the golden Spanish generation so wasn’t used so prolifically internationally, and secondly because Maureen ditched him at Chelsea. I actually feel we could give Mata that ACM Ozil role and he could shine. He is easily as technically gifted, is not far off being as creative, and is a better goal-scorer in my book.

GB. I completely agree (as does AW). Arsenal look for value in the market as we cannot compete for the really top players. Also, AW thinks that many of the prices do not reflect the quality of the player, more their marketing value.

I would definitely swap Sanchez for Martial and Shaw but there is no chance Merinho will deal with AW.

One of our problems is we are limited by our squad and the need to play the likes of Walcott and Giroud. If we sell them, they are not available for selection 😀

Top marks too for the 6:02 of the honourable worm shifter, Mr GB himself.

Well thought out, well argued, and clearly you have had help from the camel. Good stuff.

[I could not understand why you kept mentioning your favourite nonentity, TW – and then realised it was not Theo but Transfer Window you were talking about. That boy GB has a fixation – I can hear people saying!] 🙂

So far today I have
Listened to an entire violin concerto (Sibelius)
Read about the great Italian Luthiers
Discovered Americans call wasps, yellow jackets
Which is excellent but not as good as Italian/latin word, vespas
Which in itself is not as good as what friends from California call midges…noseeums (no see thems)

I’ll go for a back four with Antonio Valencia on the right and at centre-back Eric Bailly paired with Rob Holding, that is how bad I think the other centre-backs for both teams have been. It’s even harder finding a left-back here and it has to be Daley Blind because the rest have been so disappointing.

My midfield three would have Ander Herrera on the right, Michael Carrick central and then, he shouldn’t be in there on this season, a lack of competition means Mesut Ozil gets in.

Then, in attack, I’d have Theo Walcott on the right. He might not have fulfilled his potential or have the greatest technical quality but he’s scored goals at least. Despite being in and out of the team, he’s got 19 goals in all competitions, which is only five behind Alexis Sanchez, and his movement is important to get the best out of Ozil, who needs runners to pick out. Likewise, Marcus Rashford’s movement on the left would get the best out of that midfield’s passing ability.

I’ve got Alexis Sanchez as my centre-forward, which is undoubtedly his best position. He looks like he’s trying to make a point when he’s out on the left. He’s barely involved in play, especially when you compare to the way he plays for Chile, and just doesn’t look interested. The only thing that I could think would motivate him is the transfer links he’s got with other clubs, which include Manchester United.

Done all the things I said I’d done at 8:01
And done other things
And eaten the very best dark chocolate ginger biscuits
And threw the box away, so don’t know what they were
And forgot where I bought them

I’ve just watched WH v Spurs game. Spuds were unlucky. Hammers’ goalie had game of his life, a couple of decision against them, they dominated the game and lost. We’ve been there, we know this type of a game, terrible aftertaste